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Ava F. Kahn

Ava F. Kahn received a Ph.D. in history from the University of California at Santa Barbara. She moved to the Bay Area in 1991 to serve as the Research Associate at the Western Jewish History Center of the Judah Magnes Museum. Her books include Jewish Voices of the California Gold Rush: A Documentary History 1849–1880; Jewish Life in the American West; California Jews, co-edited by Marc Dollinger, and the Introduction to the University of Nebraska’s reissue of Solomon Nunes Carvalho’s Incidents of Travel and Adventure in the Far West. Kahn has served as a visiting scholar at the California Studies Center, University of California, Berkeley. Her current work includes a co-authored book on Jewish history in the Pacific West.

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Mary Ann Cohen Magnin

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Florence Prag Kahn

Florence Prag Kahn was not only the first Jewish woman to serve in Congress, but also one of only a handful of women serving during the 1920s and 1930s. A Republican party loyalist, Kahn was an effective maneuverer who introduced legislation that shaped the economy and geography of the Bay Area of San Francisco.

Bessie Goldstein Gotsfeld

Bessie Goldstein Gotsfeld helped organize American Mizrachi Women, pushed for its independence from men’s groups, and made aiding children in Israel a major goal of the organization.

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How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Ava F. Kahn." (Viewed on December 25, 2024) <https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/author/kahn-ava>.